Preparing for New Options in Vermont!

Beside taking all the familiar supplies I have become used to having in my possession as I have described before, I am also taking new materials to experiment with while I am away. I have purchased canvas board to see if I can print on canvas and collage on it. Instead of doing works on paper, I will try my hand at making an image with ink on canvas. I have also bought varnish and matte medium so I can seal the work. Then I will not put glass over it. It is an experiment and I will see if I like how it looks.

I also bought colored 3-in-1 pencils called "Woodies" at Dick Blick online. They are like watercolors, colored pencils and wax crayons all in one. Several painters I know use them and like them and I like the effects they get. I am willing to try them and see what happens when I use them in my mixed media work. Art is an adventure and I am willing to take a journey to new and unknown places and see what happens. I have an open mind. If I like it, you will see the results. If I do not like it, you will not get to see the results. The art will stay in the back of my closet.

Meanwhile, I am beginning to get my things in order for the trip on June 30. I will be in Rhode Island for the weekend and then go to Vermont Studio Center for my 2 week Artist Residency on July 3.

Packing for Vermont Artist Residency- How Much Is Too Much?

I have been fortunate enough to have done a considerable amount of traveling in the last 12 years and each time I go, I travel lighter and lighter. I hardly bring any clothes with me. I wear the same things and wash them out. After all, who is going to see me if I am moving along the itinerary?? Also, who wants to carry the heavy load? My poor husband calls himself the "camel!" Another trick we have recently adopted, is not to check luggage unless absolutely necessary. We pare down to bare necessities.

We also need to leave space for purchases along the way. On the trip to Paris in Fall 2010, I had only a carry-on for a week stay. I did buy quite a bit and found I had to leave a weathered pair of sneakers and an old, but oh! so comfortable, pair of shoes to make room for the new purchases.

For this trip to Vermont, the clothes are not an issue- a few T shirts, pants, a Shabbas outfit, enough underwear and nightgowns not to do laundry and I will be fine.

BUT, I am wanting to take everything in my studio! I have overbought supplies like crazy, my rationale being "What happens if I run out of things and I am stuck in the middle of Vermont? So I bought 100 sheets of BFK Rives, my favorite printing paper. Or what if I want to collage a lot of things and I run out of the kind of non-toxic archival glue I prefer? So I bought out the store and got all 48 large tubes of it as well as fixative and more matte medium. I overloaded on printers' ink just to be sure and bought tons of fabulous hand-made and designer papers for collage. I will have a carful of supplies, enough to last a lot more than 2 weeks, I expect I'll run out of toothpaste before I run out of art supplies.

Vermont Studio Center- Artist Residency

I am preparing for a two week Artist Residency at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont the first two weeks in July. Founded by artists in 1984, the VSC is the largest international artists' and writers' residency program in the United States, hosting 50 visual and writing artists each month from across the country and around the world.

The VSC provides 2 to 12 weeks studio residencies on an historic 30 building campus along the Gihon River in Johnson Vermont, an hour and a half north of Burlington, a village, in the heart of the Green MountainI am collecting all the supplies I think I will need to print and create mixed media pieces for two weeks with 24 hour access to a press!! How exciting and exhilarating!! I can't wait. I have several unfinished pieces I am bringing. A few pieces I need to do for the Fringe Festival in September. Some work I started at the Main Line Art Center in June that I want to complete and several ideas for new series I want to implement and then... and then... and then... we'll see what percolates up in the creative environment of artists......